


Closer

by smaragdbird



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: M/M, Post-Avengers, tony and coulson had ust before phil 'died'
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-13
Updated: 2016-04-13
Packaged: 2018-06-02 02:19:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6546535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smaragdbird/pseuds/smaragdbird
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony had been a lot closer to Coulson than anyone realised before Coulson's death.</p><p>It's a good thing Coulson's not dead then</p>
            </blockquote>





	Closer

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [this ](http://avengerkink.livejournal.com/11264.html?thread=27543552#t27543552) prompt

Thor talked to Natasha and Clint before leaving, talked about the respect he had for Coulson, what a great man he was and that his loss was felt by Thor too. They both took Thor’s words with stony faces that made Tony want to break something. Steve said something too while Bruce just awkwardly shuffled in the background. Tony liked him best for it. No meaningless words from him.

Tony just shook Steve’s hand, told Natasha an improbably lame pun in Latin that had her rolling her eyes just a tiny bit and drove Bruce to the airport.

“Job is still open”, he said in front of the building.

“Thanks”, Bruce said and they both knew he’d come back for it just not any time soon.

They shook hands and just before Bruce walked into the terminal he said, “I’m sorry for you.”

Tony never really figured out if Bruce had known from the start or if it had been a general observation. He never really cared to ask him either.

He called Pepper, told her he’d be back soon, then called Fury partly to annoy him and partly because of the press that would need to be dealt with.

Life went on. There wasn’t a plunge into self-destructive behaviour, no excessive drinking, no property destroying fight with Rhodey or offending Pepper into her ignoring him. Bruce even sent a postcard from Laos. They had saved the world. Everything was fine.

It was just…

“Is there going to be a funeral?” Pepper asked.

“For whom?” Tony asked back.

“For Phil.” Tony’s hand tightened on the screw driver he was holding. He shrugged.

“Don’t think Agents merit a funeral”, he said as carelessly as he could.

“Could you ask Fury? You know I’m not supposed to know anything.”

“Sure”, Tony said but he didn’t look at her.

/

He woke up in a hospital bed with Nick Fury sitting at his side.

“Am I dead?” He asked, his voice raspy and his throat dry.

“No. When I give you an order I expect you to follow it.” Nick growled but helped him to sit upright and drink some water.

“Sorry boss. What happened?”

Nick filled him in with a few short sentences. “Romanov managed to recover Barton. Thor returned to his world with his brother and the tesseract.”

“How long was I out?”

“A month.” And only because Nick was his oldest friend Phil could see that there was something else. He waited. “I told them you were dead”, Nick said eventually.

“I see. That bad, huh?”

Nick closed his eye for a moment and sighed. “Yes.”

“What about Tony?” Phil asked.

“I don’t know”, Nick answered honestly. “It was pretty rough during the battle. He nearly died. But he seems fine.”

“I need to see him.”

“No.”

“I need to see him”, Phil repeated. “And Natasha and Clint and everyone else you told I was dead.”

“That would be everyone.”

“Then just the team. I’m going to live. No reason to keep it secret anymore. But I need to tell Tony.”

“Since when do you care so much about Stark?”

Phil gave him a long look. 

“Oh”, Nick said.

/

He didn’t know what changed Nick’s mind but he was more happy than surprised when he saw seven familiar people entering his hospital room. 

“Phil!” Pepper was the first one to rush over and hug him. He hugged her right back as far as his wounds let him anyway because damn, he had missed her. All of them really. Clint made a pun about rising from the dead for which Natasha hit him, Thor gave him a smile that easily outshone the sun, Dr. Banner told him he was glad to see him. And his heart monitor gave a treacherous little spike when he noticed that Captain Rogers had bought him flowers and put a hand on his shoulder while telling him it was good to see him again.

All the while Tony stood there and watched, his arms crossed over his chest.

“I’m fine”, Phil told him when the others were done.

“Yeah, I mean I can see that with those big holes in your chest and back. Why wouldn’t you be fine?” Tony said sarcastically. Steve frowned but Natasha looked like she was trying not to smile.

“You have a hole in your chest”, Phil pointed out.

“That’s different.”

“Obviously”, Phil said dryly.

“Just kiss him already Tony. Phil looks like he needs rest”, Pepper said exasperatedly.

A defiant line appeared around Tony’s mouth but Phil caught his hand. “If you don’t do what Pepper just told you to do I will-“

“That’s coercion”, Tony protested.

“If it’s such a hardship…” Phil let go of Tony’s hand.

“Reverse psychology won’t work on me.”

“No?”

“No, I’m doing this out of my own free will”, Tony said firmly and leaned down to kiss him. 

“So you’re the cellist then?” Steve asked.

Tony laughed against Phil’s mouth. “I’ve never been good with cover stories.”

**Author's Note:**

> Find me [ here](http://smaragdbird.tumblr.com/) on tumblr


End file.
